Are Republicans Deliberately Sabotaging the Economy?

Noting
that deficit commission co-chair Alan Simpson is thirsting for a "blood
bath in April" when Congress will have to raise the federal debt
ceiling, Paul Krugman
worries in The New York Times that the Republican Party might be happy
watching the economy crumble as long as a Democrat occupies the Oval
Office.

Simpson says there are Republicans who'll refuse to
raise the ceiling--which must be done to keep the federal government
running--unless Democrats offer "real" "red meat"--major spending cuts.
"Think of Mr. Simpson’s blood lust as one more piece of evidence that
our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown,
than most people realize," Krugman writes.

The fact is that one of our
two great political parties has made it clear that it has no interest
in making America governable, unless it’s doing the governing. And that
party now controls one house of Congress, which means that the country
will not, in fact, be governable without that party’s cooperation —
cooperation that won’t be forthcoming.

Krugman frets that elites
have been slow to pick up on this. And not only is the GOP is working
against policies that would ease unemployment, it's also opposing the
nuke treaty with Russia "not because of legitimate objections, but
simply because it’s an Obama administration initiative," he says.
Republicans seem to believe that "if sabotaging the president endangers
the nation, so be it. ... It’s hard to see how this situation is
resolved without a major crisis of some kind... Simpson may or may not
get the blood bath he craves this April, but there will be blood sooner
or later. And we can only hope that the nation that emerges from that
blood bath is still one we recognize."

Yes, It Is Sabotage, Steve Benen
argues at The Washington Monthly. "We're talking about a major
political party, which will control much of Congress next year, possibly
undermining the strength of the country -- on purpose, in public,
without apology or shame -- for no other reason than to give themselves a
campaign advantage in 2012. ... Historically, lawmakers from both
parties have resisted any kind of temptations along these lines for one
simple reason: they didn't think they'd get away with it. ... But I get
the sense Republicans no longer have any such fears. ... The
Boehner/McConnell GOP appears willing to gamble: if they can hold the
country back, voters will just blame the president in the end. And
that's quite possibly a safe assumption."

They Couldn't Fix the Economy If They Tried, BooMan
writes at Booman Tribune. "The GOP may not want to help the economy
while a Democrat is in the White House, but they don't know how to help
the economy regardless. We saw this during Bush's two terms in office.
And when Bush finally faced reality and took the obvious steps to save
the economy, the Republicans went Full Metal Teabagger in response."

GOP Freshmen Will Be Tough to Control, The Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid
reports. "We're going to have to deal with it as adults," Republican
House leader John Boehner said. "Whether we like it or not, the federal
government has obligations, and we have obligations on our part." But,
Bendavid reports, "some of the incoming Republicans, such as Rep.-elect
Tim Scott of South Carolina, a rising party star, have made it clear
they wouldn't support raising the debt limit because of their concern
about federal spending. ... GOP leaders hope to package a debt-limit
vote with significant spending cuts, making it easier for Republicans to
vote for it. But it isn't clear that will be enough for many of the GOP
freshmen. And most House Democrats are unlikely to help the Republicans
by voting for such a package."

Why Aren't Dems Talking About This?Kevin Drum
asks at Mother Jones. "Sabotage is a strong accusation, but what's
remarkable is that virtually no one in any position of authority has
picked up on this... On the Republican side, practically everyone from
the party leaders on down is thoroughly convinced that Barack Obama is
one or more of: a socialist, an appeaser, a Chicago thug, a racist, a
would-be killer of grandmas... But the mirror image of that — Democrats
saying that Republicans are deliberately sabotaging economic recovery —
is virtually invisible. ... This, in a nutshell, is the difference
between the conservative noise machine and the liberal noise machine. ... We'll see if that changes now
that Krugman has brought his cannons to bear."

We Must Cut Defense Spending, Michael Tedesco
writes at Comments from Left Field. The military is more than half of
discretionary spending. Republicans don't appear to be taking threats of
a government shut down seriously, Tedesco writes, and "nothing will
matter unless they are either willing to cut Defense spending or do as
many Democrats have proposed and raise the debt ceiling."

This Is Not Your Grandpa's GOP, OpenLeft's Paul Rosenberg
writes. People who think it is are delusional, he says. "Your
grandfather's GOP had been twice humbled: first by the Great Depression,
and second by being wrong about Hitler (both the isolationist and those
who openly sympathized with him). Today's GOP is in deep denial about
both, and the mean old men who run it just can't wait to destroy
everything that FDR and his heirs have accomplished since 1932."

Everyone has someone on their holiday shopping list who’s impossible to buy for. For the second year in a row, we asked Atlantic readers to describe their someone, and brainstormed a few perfect gift ideas for them.